Making it readable: borders, bold, and not much else
Well, we've got a sheet with real data in it now, filled in properly, no typos left sitting around. Today we make it look like something you'd want to open again.
Folks think formatting a sheet means making it pretty. That isn't quite it. Formatting means making it readable at a glance, so you don't have to squint and trace your finger across the screen to see which number goes with which label. That's the whole of it. If it looks nice along the way, fine, but that's just a bonus.
Bold, for exactly one thing: headers
Your column headers, the row across the top that says what each column is, those should be bold. Select that row, press the bold button or Ctrl+B (Cmd+B if you're on a Mac), and you're done.
That's about it for bold. I know that sounds like I'm making little of it, but I mean it. If you bold your headers and nothing else, your eye already knows where to land when you open the sheet. If you bold half your numbers too, or a few cells you want to "highlight," it stops meaning anything. Bold is for finding your place, not for decoration.
Borders, used sparingly
Borders are good for one thing mostly: separating a total row from the data above it. Say you've got a list of expenses and then a "Total" row at the bottom. Put a line above that row, a top border, so your eye knows everything above the line got added into that number. Select the row, find the border tool, choose "top border." A small move with a big payoff.
You do not need a border around every single cell. I've watched people grid out a whole sheet as if it were a form to be printed and mailed in, and it just makes everything harder to read, not easier. Less does more here.
Column width, the plain fix
If a column is too narrow, your text gets cut off or your numbers show up as ##### (that's Excel and Sheets both telling you "not enough room," not an error). Double-click the line between two column letters at the top and it'll size itself to fit. That one trick clears up most of the "why does my sheet look broken" trouble.
One color, if you want it, and only for meaning
If you're going to use a fill color, a background color on a cell, use it to mean something. Orange for "coming up," green for "paid," whatever system suits you. Don't use six colors just because they're pretty. Once color has a job, it earns its keep. Once it's only decoration, it's clutter, and now you have to remember what the clutter means, which spoils the point.
The opinion part
I'll own it: I have strong feelings about over-formatting. People build these elaborate color-coded, bordered, fifteen-category masterpieces and then walk away from them in three weeks because keeping it up became a chore of its own. Same trouble as with too many budget categories. You do not need forty categories and you do not need every cell dressed up. A sheet you'll actually keep using beats a sheet that looks like it belongs in a magazine. Plain and readable wins over fancy every time.
A quick real-life detour
This brings to mind a Relief Society activity a while back. I offered to make a sign-up sheet for something, just a simple list, who's bringing what. And of course I couldn't help myself, I ended up with tabs, headers, the whole works, far more than a sign-up sheet needed. But here's what came of it: three different people saw it and asked me to make one for THEIR thing before the night was even over.
The reason it worked wasn't the tabs. It was that you could look at it for two seconds and know exactly what was going on. Bold headers, one clean list, nothing fighting for your attention. That's the real lesson tucked inside that story. The formatting people took to wasn't fancy, it was just clear.
Try this at home
Open a sheet you've already built in this course. Bold your header row. Add one top border above a totals row if you've got one. Widen any column that's cutting off text. Then stop. Resist the urge to color everything just because you can, that's tomorrow's worry if it's a worry at all.
Before next time
Look at your sheet from across the room, or squint at it a little. If you can still tell what's what, you're done formatting. If you can't, that's the only reason to add more. See you next time. - C